RICK VAN GURP
Instead of having to re-invent
the wheel, I was able to hit the
ground running. Don’t get me
wrong, there is much to be
done in developing your vi-
sion and philosophy but DS3 is
as turnkey as it gets.
Second, be an advocate for the
patient. WIDIOM is an acro-
nym I learned at the Dawson
Academy and it certainly ap-
plies here. It stands for Would
I Do It On Me? While it is im-
portant to get your feet wet,
don’t feel compelled to jump
straight into the deep end. In
other words, particularly in
the initial stages of your edu-
cation, don’t feel compelled to
treat everyone.
We crawl before we walk and
we walk before we run. If deep
down, you feel that it is in the
patient’s best interest to refer
him or her to a sleep physician,
then do so. As you increase
your knowledge and experi-
ence, you will feel comfortable
treating increasingly complex
patients. Don’t get me wrong.
This transition can be rather
quick but it is important to set
your own pace. Just be smart
about it.
Another example of being a
patient advocate, Dr. Yatros
gained my respect early on
with how he discusses oral ap-
pliance therapy with patients.
He’s not out there to “con-
vince” patients but instead,
lays out realistic expectations
and lets the patient decide
which path is best. If a patient
elects to try CPAP, then he is
fully supportive. While this
is at the core of the WIDIOM
principle, it also akin to po-
tentially under-promising and
over-delivering, which is al-
ways a winning concept.
But here’s the kicker. Not only
are you looking after the pa-
tient’s best interests, but your
willingness to do so will get
you noticed in the sleep com-
munity. I think sleep physi-
cians were surprised to get
referrals from me. I think they
only expected me to “steal”
patients from them. And as a
result, while I am making re-
ferrals to them, they are now
referring patients to me as
well. In effect, you are setting
yourself up as the “go-to sleep
dentist”.
Finally, be an advocate for
dental sleep medicine. If I had
a nickel for every person who
told me they had no idea that
this service was available…
well, you get the picture. In
fact, primary care physicians
ordinarily fall into the same
boat. Physicians receive very
little training in sleep medi-
cine. Very little. You can expect
many of them to know abso-
lutely nothing about this vital
service that only we dentists
can offer.
With that in mind, the next
time you are out and about,
when someone asks you what
you do for a living, don’t just
tell them you are a dentist; in-
stead, tell them you are a den-
tist who treats patients with
sleep apnea. I guarantee you it
will make for interesting con-
versation and exposure for
you.
As you increase awareness of
how dentists can help change
lives, your practice will grow
as will your fulfillment.
Dr. Rick Van Gurp
Dr. Rick Van Gurp is a general
dentist in Charlotte, North Caro-
lina. He has a solo general dental
practice and a separate solo den-
tal sleep medicine practice. He
has over 150 hours of continuing
education in dental sleep med-
icine including having recently
completed the Tufts University
mini-residency. Dr. Van Gurp
can be reached at
[email protected] and
704-220-1930.